Do you have a Disney vacation on the horizon? Gear up to make the most of your time in the parks by adding a little extra magic to the days leading up to your vacation. Whether you’re just weeks away, or planning months in advance, these tricks will add Disney excitement to the time leading into your vacation.
Host themed dinner and movie nights
Image: Disney | ABC Television Group, Flickr (license)
Schedule a special movie night for the family every weekend leading up to your vacation. Screen a beloved Disney film together and enjoy a delicious dinner that’s themed to the movie. Snag a few of these ideas, or brainstorm your own:
- Moana: Coconut shrimp, pulled pork sliders, tropical fruit salad, and green swirled “Heart of Te Fiti” cookies
- Tangled: Rapunzel’s favorite hazelnut soup, breadstick braids, and Maximus’s apples cooked with sugar and cinnamon in a cast iron skillet
- Winnie the Pooh: Piglets in a blanket, Rabbit’s garden veggies, and honey bear cookies
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Cannon ball meatballs, seashell pasta salad, pirate sword veggie kabobs, and chocolate gold coins
- The Princess and the Frog: Tiana’s gumbo, swamp water green fruit punch and beignets
With a little creativity, the options are endless, whether you’re exploring traditional Scottish fare to watch Brave or trying Chinese food while you watch Mulan. After each movie, you can talk about how you look forward to meeting the film’s characters at meet and greets, seeing them in parades, or riding their attractions.
Create fun attraction crafts
Image: Tom Page, Flickr (license)
Gear up for your favorite Disney attractions by having a few craft afternoons leading up to your vacation. For younger children who are first-time visitors, these crafts are a good way to introduce the idea of various rides and emphasize how attractions are like life-size craft projects – and certainly nothing to be afraid of. Try these projects:
- Make a hatbox ghost paper craft
- Craft safari binoculars for Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Try making an origami Millennium Falcon
- Create Finding Nemo (or Dory) envelope puppets
As your fridge fills with fanciful Disney themed crafts, you’re sure to feel the anticipation build for your upcoming adventure.
Set a family countdown clock
Image: Images Money, Flickr (license)
Set up a countdown clock on your smartphone, computer, or other device that offers a visible countdown leading up to the big departure date. You’ll find plenty of Disney-themed apps and programs to add the right flair to the project. If you want to really simplify your countdown, use a white board, chalk board, or paper to count the days and see how many ways you can decorate your numbers to look like Disney characters.
Mark essential events on the calendar
Image: Andreanna Moya Photography, Flickr (license)
Pull out your calendar and count backward to some essential planning dates on your timeline. You can (and should) make your dining reservations 180 days in advance. If you’re staying at a Disney resort, you can make FastPass+ reservations 60 days in advance. Non-resort guests can only make FastPass+ reservations 30 days in advance. Take care of these tasks early for the best spots.
In the days leading up to your reservation dates, hold fun family meetings to prioritize your picks. Have family members vote on their favorite attractions in each park. Pare down your dining options to a handful of top choices, and decide which parks you’ll visit on each day. Keep first, second, and third-choice picks on hand when you make your reservations so you have backup plans if you can’t get your top picks.
Cook like a Disney chef
Image: Jeff Christiansen, Flickr (license)
While Disney cookbooks are a popular feature in the theme parks, you don’t have to shop on property to get these. Just head to Amazon, eBay, or a similar site and you’ll find plenty of options. If you don’t already have some Disney cookbooks on hand, pick out a few to work through in the weeks or months leading up to your vacation.
Most Disney themed cookbooks feature recipes straight from the parks and hotels. Delicious Disney Desserts gives you the key to cooking up Le Cellier’s Maple Crème Brulee and Boatwright’s Bananas Foster Angel Food Cake. Delicious Disney Just for Kids has recipes for Boma’s African Fruit Fool and the Sci-Fi Dine-In BLT Tomato Soup. Delicious Disney has the famous recipe for Tonga Toast.
You can also find good representations of some popular Disney recipes online. Pick a few special meals to recreate and try your hand at them before your vacation. You can compare your efforts to the real thing when you finally get to the parks.
Add pixie dust to story time
Image: ~Beekeeper~, Flickr (license)
If your family has a regular story time each night, this offers an outstanding opportunity to get in a magical mindset leading up to your vacation. You can find a nearly endless supply of Disney themed books at most bookstores and libraries. Disney’s published several collections of five-minute bedtime stories for younger children. Teens and adults can get in on the fun with books like “Before Ever After: The Lost Lectures of Walt Disney’s Animation Studio” or “Everything I Know I Learned From Disney Animated Feature Films: Advice For Living Happily Ever After.”
Don’t forget to include some guide books in your reading as well, particularly if you’re a first-time visitor. You can browse through attraction and dining reviews with your family and pick out the ones that you’re most interested in including in your stay. Many guidebooks will also offer fun tidbits, details, or hidden Mickey’s that will enrich your experiences when you’re in the parks.
Get in the Disney spirit long before your vacation and you can enjoy the lead-up to your magical escape as much as you enjoy your time in the parks.
